- The Walking Dead Recap: “Bloodletting” (Season 2, Episode 2)
Posted on 24 Oct 2011 in Television, The Fourth Wall
In its first season, “The Walking Dead” was like a gore-streaked helium balloon that began firmly tethered to its source material and started to float off into the ether about halfway through. Now, it appears, someone is yanking its string.
- The Walking Dead Season 2 Premiere: Suffer the Little Children
Posted on 17 Oct 2011 in Television, The Fourth Wall, Thrillers
Officers Friendly and Crazy to the rescue. (Photo credit: Gene Page/AMC) Despite the fact that AMC’s “The Walking Dead” drew larger numbers of viewers in its first season than the channel’s frontrunner “Mad Men,” the channel allegedly fired creator Frank Darabont and drastically slashed the show’s budget, even while stretching out this season’s length from [...]
- Movie Review: The Thing
Posted on 15 Oct 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Detractors of Rob Zombie’s Halloween know that the cardinal rule of a classic monster is this: don’t reveal too much. In the same way Michael Myers was a far spookier fiend when he hid behind the impassive mask, tilting his head in fascination at his kills, the alien in The Thing was wholly horrifying when it was an unknown life form. When Zombie strove to tell us the story of how Michael Myers became a monster, we quit listening. Unfortunately, van Heijningen falls into the same trap with his prequel.
- The Weekly Listicle: From the Mouths of Babes…Kids and the Supernatural
Posted on 25 Aug 2011 in Movies, The Fourth Wall
This weekend’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (which I saw at a film festival last fall and didn’t enjoy, much to my chagrin) is the latest in a series of flicks Guillermo Del Toro has executively produced. Del Toro has his fingers in movies all across the spectrum – but it seems his favorite [...]
- Movie Review: Fright Night
Posted on 20 Aug 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Discerning “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fans will have noticed Fright Night’s screenplay is written by Marti Noxon, who penned some of the best episodes of the WB show. Who better to take on a screenplay about a solo teenager combating vampires? Noxon’s screenplay is witty, gory, and fast-paced. Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, who also did memorable work on The Others, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and The Road, made Vegas, a city of lights and constant motion, seem remarkably cold and foreboding.
- Movie Review: 30 Minutes or Less
Posted on 13 Aug 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
If 30 Minutes or Less weren’t so bogged down with gratuitous cursing, violence, and boobs, it might’ve had the potential to be an American version of the brilliant Edgar Wright buddy-cop spoof Hot Fuzz. As is, it’s bound to go down in the annals of “meh” comedies. Transgressive material is only great when it’s done correctly, and 30 Minutes or Less gets it wrong.
- Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Posted on 06 Aug 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
The fantastic Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies and King Kong in Peter Jackson’s remake, plays Caesar – and Serkis is a genius. The ape looks exactly the way you’d figure a creature in the midst of a rapid-fire evolutionary jump would look. He moves the way you see chimps move in the zoo, but with an added humanity.
- Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Posted on 15 Jul 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
A palpable glee wafted through the theater as cameras flashed and 3D glasses shaped like Potter’s rested upon hundreds of noses. Gasps, sobs, and cheers reverberated while sniffles and furtive nose-wiping punctuated the quietest scenes. This is true fandom, and it’s wonderful. Some would see this as insanity, some would laugh derisively – and to that I’d ask, “Well, what are you passionate about?”
- Movie Review: Cars 2
Posted on 25 Jun 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
If there’s one thing Pixar always does right, it’s the animation itself. Cars 2 is no WALL-E or Up, but Rome, To(w)kyo, and London are beautifully rendered. In the animators’ capable hands, the cars themselves are as shiny as you’d want, the massive cogs within Big Ben are lovely to behold, and the roiling sea looks so real you might do a double-take. But the breathtaking land- and seascapes aren’t enough to hold the insubstantial story together.
- Movie Review: Super 8
Posted on 11 Jun 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Super 8 is quality filmmaking. This is what a PG-13 summer blockbuster looks like. For those of us who grew up on 80s action flicks it’s a delightful return to form.
- Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Posted on 21 May 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Here we are, leading into blockbuster season 2011, and the best thing one can say about the fourth Pirates flick is, well, Academy darlings need paychecks too. The last movie, At World’s End, was four years ago. That film left us with a sentimental ending that ought to have finished the series.
- The Weekly Listicle: A Johnny Depp-sticle!
Posted on 19 May 2011 in Movies, The Fourth Wall
Yep, this is still happening. Still. When I saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Curse of the Black Pearl, and I was so charmed I dragged my friends to go see it at the second-run theater. They were equally amused and enthralled. It was swashbuckling, silly, romantic, and…well, theatrical. Klaus Badelt’s resonant score [...]
- Movie Review: Scream 4
Posted on 16 Apr 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Scream 4’s tagline “New decade, new rules” may be specious. The rules of surviving a slasher film are the same as they’ve always been – don’t drink or do drugs, don’t have sex, and never say “I’ll be right back,” or you’ll end up the next victim with your guts on the floor. Fortunately though, horror master Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson’s reunion brings back the same wit, glee, and panache of, if not the original movie, at least the second one. (Let’s forget Scream 3 ever happened, shall we?)
- The Weekly Listicle: stoners, slackers, and shenanigans, oh my!
Posted on 14 Apr 2011 in Movies, Television, The Fourth Wall
Our very own Dan Fields reviewed Your Highness last weekend. Dan and most other critics and audiences came to the conclusion that it was particularly worthless. Which is unfortunate. The trailers looked like probable hilarity! What, you say? Natalie Portman in a bikini! James Franco with shaggy hair and in Medieval garb! Danny McBride falling [...]
- Movie Review: Insidious
Posted on 02 Apr 2011 in Movies, Movies & TV
Remember how the first Saw was actually a creative, mind-bending scarefest? The series’ creators Leigh Whannell and James Wan are back with this weekend’s opener Insidious. The new flick isn’t quite on par with the first chronicle of Jigsaw’s vengeful antics, but it’s a classic, uncomplicated ghost story with no frills—and chills to spare.
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